前途未卜的英国威尔士核项目

 　　In a field in a remote part of north-west Wales, a lone 1 farmer cuts the grass, parcelling it up into hay bales which can be sold for a modest profit. His farm, and even the hill on which it sits, will soon be demolished 2 by the Japanese-owned company Horizon — ground zero in an ambitious scheme to build one of a string of nuclear power stations across the UK.

　　在威尔士偏远的西北角，一个农民正独自在田里割草，他把草捆成草垛，干草垛可以卖掉，换取微薄的收入。他的农场乃至农场所在的那座山，都将很快被Horizon公司（日本人所有）夷平，修建一座核电站的宏伟计划就将在这里付诸实施。不仅在这里，英国还计划在全国各地修建一系列核电站。
　　Wylfa, on the island of Anglesey, is one of several sites designated for the plants, which could cost up to ￡100bn and, if all goes to plan, will replace the UK’s ageing coal power stations. But despite the billions of pounds about to be poured into nuclear energy in Britain, only some is likely to stay in the UK. Of the six plants being planned, none will be owned by a British company.
　　位于安格尔西岛(Anglesey)上的威尔法(Wylfa)是这些核电站的指定选址之一，这些核电站可能耗资高达1000亿英镑，如果一切按计划进行，它们将取代英国日益老化的燃煤电站。尽管将有数十亿英镑投入英国的核能领域，可能只有一部分钱会留在英国。在计划修建的6座核电站中，没有一座是由英国公司所有的。
　　For nuclear power groups from France, China, the US and Japan, the UK’s ambitious plans represent a ripe opportunity in an otherwise difficult global market. Following the meltdowns at the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011, several countries, including Japan and Germany, scaled back or cancelled their nuclear energy plans.
　　英国雄心勃勃的计划为来自法国、中国、美国和日本的核能集团提供了一个大好机会，而除英国以外的全球市场形势严峻。在2011年日本福岛(Fukushima)核事故后，包括日本和德国在内的多个国家削减或取消了它们的核能计划。
　　The lack of British participation 3 in such a massive domestic programme has drawn 4 opposition 5. Critics say the project represents yet another example of the country’s propensity 6 to allow foreign companies and governments to profit from the UK’s most sensitive — and lucrative 7 — infrastructure 8 projects.
　　如此大规模的国内计划缺乏英国公司的参与，这招致了批评。批评人士表示，该项目代表着另一个例子，表明英国往往放任外国企业和政府从英国最敏感（也最有利可图）的基础设施项目中获利。
　　That critique appears to be shared by some in the UK government. When Theresa May, the prime minister, unexpectedly delayed the ￡18bn plant planned for Hinkley Point in south-west England, allies said it was over concerns about the involvement of two Chinese state-backed companies alongside France’s EDF, the state-backed utility. Some officials see the plant as a matter of national security, warning that the Chinese state could have the power to turn off a large chunk 9 of Britain’s electricity supply.
　　一些英国政府内部人士似乎也持有同样的看法。当英国首相特里萨?梅(Theresa May)出人意料地推迟放行180亿英镑的英格兰西南部欣克利角(Hinkley Point)核电站计划时，支持者们表示，其原因是英国对国有的法国电力(EDF)以及两家中国国有企业的参与有顾虑。一些英国官员认为该核电站事关国家安全，他们警告称，这或许会让中国政府拥有切断英国很大一部分电力供应的能力。
　　Mrs May’s decision has caused consternation 10 in Beijing, where officials had been reassured 11 by the previous government’s unflagging support for the project. She will travel to China next month to steady bilateral 12 relations, and is expected to make a decision over the project around the time of that trip.
　　梅的决定令中国方面感到惶恐，之前那届英国政府对该项目的持续支持让中国官员感到安心。梅下月将访华，以稳定英中双边关系，预计她将在访华前后就该项目作出决定。
　　It is not just the country’s nuclear reactors 14 that are being built, financed or purchased by overseas backers. The owners of Heathrow airport include Spain’s Ferrovial as well as Chinese, Qatari and Singaporean sovereign wealth funds.
　　不只是英国的核反应堆由海外投资者建造、出资或买下。希斯罗机场的所有者包括西班牙的法罗里奥集团(Ferrovial)以及中国、卡塔尔和新加坡的主权财富基金。英国的大型火车和巴士运营商Arriva由德国铁路(Deutsche Bahn)所有。英国前首相戴维?卡梅伦(David Cameron)曾试图吸引中国支持者投资英国HS2高铁。
　　Made in Japan
　　日本制造
　　At Wylfa, the Hitachi branding on the cranes involved in initial groundworks give a signal of how integral the Japanese company, which owns Horizon, is to every stage of the process. The entire station will be built in Hitachi City in Japan before being shipped over, piece by piece, to north Wales. Horizon has submitted its design to regulators for approval, and will only make the final decision to go ahead after it has funding in place and made the necessary planning applications.
　　在威尔法，初始土方作业中使用的吊车上的日立(Hitachi)品牌标识，表明日立在工程的每个阶段都多么不可或缺（日立是Horizon的东家）。整个核电站都将在日本的日立市建造，然后一块块运到威尔士北部。Horizon已将其设计递交监管机构审批，在资金到位并完成必要的规划申请后才会做出最终的开工决定。
　　At Moorside, in the northern county of Cumbria, a company called NuGen is developing another site over the road from Sellafield power station. NuGen is a joint 15 venture of Japan’s Toshiba and Engie, the French utility, whose biggest shareholder 16 is the French state. Its reactor 13 has been designed by Westinghouse, the US industrial company, most of which is owned by Toshiba.
　　在英国北部坎布里亚郡(Cumbria)的穆尔赛德(Moorside)，一家名为NuGen的公司正在通往塞拉菲尔德核电站(Sellafield)的道路附近开发另一座核电站。NuGen是日本东芝(Toshiba)与法国公用事业单位Engie共同组建的一家合资企业，Engie最大股东是法国政府。该核反应堆由美国工业企业西屋电气(Westinghouse)设计，东芝持有西屋电气多数股权。
　　If Mrs May is worried about the Chinese being able to shut down Hinkley Point, she might be even more concerned with the plans of EDF, China General Nuclear Power and China National Nuclear Corp in eastern England. After the consortium develops another plant at Sizewell, in Suffolk, the Chinese groups are hoping to design and build the plant at Bradwell in Essex.
　　如果梅担心中国有能力关闭欣克利角核电站，她可能更担心法国电力、中国广核集团(China General Nuclear Power)以及中国核工业集团(China National Nuclear Corp)组成的财团在英格兰东部的计划。该财团将在萨福克郡(Suffolk)的赛兹韦尔(Sizewell)开发一座新的核电站，之后两家中国企业还希望设计和建造位于埃塞克斯郡(Essex)布拉德韦尔(Bradwell)的那座核电站。
　　Yet the UK was left with little choice but to source the new power stations from elsewhere, having seen its own skillbase dry up over decades of aversion to the construction of new reactors.
　　然而，英国别无选择，只能把新的核电站外包给别的国家建造——英国舆论几十年来反对新建核电站，其本国的技能储备已枯竭。
　　Politicians have sought to make a virtue 17 of this, saying it shows how open the UK is to outside investment. John Hutton, a champion of nuclear power while serving in Labour cabinets in the previous decade and now chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, says: “The government decided 18 not to choose the technology. Our position was that anyone with a viable 19 technology can submit it for licensing 20, and the simple truth was that EDF were in a better place than anyone else to start the renaissance 21.”
　　政治人士试图把这变成件好事，称此事展现了英国对外部投资多么开放。10年前效力于工党(Labour)内阁时支持核能、现任英国核工业协会(Nuclear Industry Association)主席的约翰?赫顿(John Hutton)表示：“政府决定不去选择技术。我们的立场是任何具备可行技术的企业都能申请许可，而一个简单的事实是，法国电力比其他任何企业都更适合来启动这一复兴。”
　　Others argue that there was a different way to go about regenerating 22 the country’s nuclear power sector 23. Ministers could, for example, have asked companies to bid to build the stations and then negotiated on price and the benefit to the UK workforce 24, before building it at public expense.
　　还有一些人辩称，振兴英国的核能行业有不同的方法。例如，在花费纳税人的钱修建核电站之前，政府大臣们可以要求企业就修建核电站竞标，然后就价格以及带给英国劳动力的好处进行谈判。
　　Peter Atherton, an analyst 25 at Cornwall Energy, a consultancy, says: “We could have a government-driven nuclear programme to get it for the cheapest cost. But what we did instead was say whoever wants to build nuclear can do. That’s why we’re seeing a free-for-all right now.”
　　咨询机构Cornwall Energy分析师彼得?阿瑟顿(Peter Atherton)表示：“我们本可以制定一个由政府推动的核计划，将成本降至最低。但我们所做的是跟大家说谁想建就可以建。这就是为什么我们现在会看到这种混战的局面。”
　　Others are more critical. One nuclear industry executive told the Financial Times: “The government is happy for our energy infrastructure to be state-owned, as long as it is not the British state.”
　　还有一些人的批评更为严厉。一位核电行业高管告诉英国《金融时报》：“政府乐意看到我们的能源基础设施变为国有——只要不是英国政府所有就好。”
　　Scaling up
　　工程浩大
　　At Horizon’s site in north Wales, the fact the project is being designed and built more than 9,000km away brings unique challenges. On one edge of the site a small dockyard services the 45-year-old existing plant, which is being decommissioned. That dockyard will be transformed into a deepwater port able to receive the 600-tonne reactor unit when it arrives from Japan.
　　在Horizon位于威尔士北部的核电站选址，这一事实带来了独特的挑战，即该项目在9000公里以外的地方设计和建造。在该选址边上，一个小型造船厂为已有45年历史、即将退役的现有发电站提供服务。这个船厂将被改造成一个深水港，足以接收将从日本运来的600吨的反应堆。
　　To move the 600-tonne reactor from the port will require the construction of the world’s biggest crane: a 200 metre-high vehicle that will carry it on specially 26 built rail tracks across the 1,000-acre site, a process which could take several weeks.
　　将这座600吨的反应堆从港口移出，将需要建造全世界最大的起重机：200米高的起重机将通过专门铺设的铁轨，运载反应堆穿过1000英亩的场地，这一过程可能要花费数周。
　　The scale of the work will create up to 10,000 jobs at its peak but Horizon says only 2,500 of them are likely to be sourced locally. The company is in talks to hire two-thirds of a planned holiday village nearby to house workers from outside the area.
　　在巅峰期，这项工程将提供多达1万个工作岗位，但是Horizon称其中仅有2500个岗位可能从本地招聘。该公司正在讨论租用附近一家计划建设的度假村2/3的房间，用来为外地来的工人提供住宿。
　　So much of the work will be done in Japan that Horizon is hoping to receive a government guarantee from the Japanese state to help finance it.
　　太多工作将在日本完成，Horizon希望日本政府可以提供担保，帮助Horizon为项目融资。
　　Among the local community on Anglesey, there is some concern over the sense that the project is being led by foreign companies. The island has an area of about 715 sq km and is home to 70,000 residents, many of whom have lived there for generations. It has one of the highest concentrations of Welsh speakers in the country, at more than 50 per cent.
　　在安格尔西岛的当地社区，有人对这一点有一些顾虑，即该项目由外国企业主导。该岛面积约715平方公里，有7万人口，其中很多人是世代生活在这里。这里是整个英国讲威尔士语的人口最集中的地区——超过一半的人口讲威尔士语。
　　“Are they going to bring people in from away?” asks Bethan Roberts, who has lived on Anglesey all her life. “It could change the area — maybe the jobs that will come will not go to locals.”
　　“他们会把外面的人带到这里来吗？”一辈子都生活在安格尔西的贝森?罗伯茨(Bethan Roberts)问，“这会改变这个地方——项目带来的就业机会或许不会落到本地人头上。”
　　“We see this as a threat to the Welsh language,” says Dylan Morgan, one of the organisers of the local campaign against the plant. “It is no coincidence that the building of the first Wylfa plant led to a reduction in the percentage of Welsh speakers,” he adds.
　　“我们认为这会威胁威尔士语，”当地反该核电站运动的一个组织者迪伦?摩根(Dylan Morgan)称，“修建第一座威尔法核电站就曾导致讲威尔士语的人口比例下滑，这并非巧合。”
　　Horizon is sensitive to these concerns. Greg Evans, its site director, comes from the US but has lived on Anglesey since 2001 and is chairman of Amlwch Town, the local football club. He says: “A lot of Anglesey’s young people have to leave in order to get work at the moment. This is a key opportunity to allow quite a few of them to stay.”
　　Horizon对这些顾虑十分敏感。核电站的负责人格雷格?埃文斯(Greg Evans)来自美国，但是他自2001年以来便一直生活在安格尔西，并且是当地足球俱乐部阿姆卢赫镇(Amlwch Town)的主席。他称：“目前安格尔西很多年轻人为了找到工作不得不离开。这是让他们中的不少人能够留下来的关键机会。”
　　For the likes of EDF, Hitachi and Toshiba, the UK’s willingness to press ahead with building nuclear power plants after Fukushima presents a rare opportunity to provide work for their engineers.
　　在经历过福岛事件后的今天，英国推进核电站建设的意愿，为法国电力、日立和东芝等公司的工程师提供了一个难得的工作机会。
　　The other main reason for international developers to build in Britain is that the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation, which must approve all plant designs, is seen as one of the most rigorous in the world. One of the main motivations for EDF’s Chinese partners to invest in the UK is the stamp of quality they would gain as they market their Hualong One design internationally.
　　各国际开发商在英国承接工程的另一个主要原因是，英国核能管理办公室(Office for Nuclear Regulation)被视为全球同类机构中最严格的之一。所有核电站设计都必须得到该办公室的批准。法国电力的中国合作伙伴在英国投资的主要动机之一就是，当他们在国际上推广自己的“华龙一号”(Hualong One)设计时，他们将被视为质量过硬。
　　The major hurdle 27 for Horizon and NuGen is that they must sell their visions to global investors 28. Both developers say they will build their plants for less than the ￡18bn it will cost to build Hinkley Point, but they will not say by how much.
　　Horizon和NuGen面临的主要障碍是，他们必须让全球投资者相信他们的构想。两家开发商都表示，他们将以低于180亿英镑（修建欣克利角核电站的花费）的造价建成自己的核电站，但是他们都不肯透露具体低多少。
　　For investors, the risks and the rewards are significant. Building a nuclear plant means spending billions of pounds, with no hope of a return until it is operational. But if the scheme reaches that point, the returns are generous, long-term and underpinned 29 by government guarantees. The UK has agreed to pay EDF ￡92.50 for every unit of electricity it produces at Hinkley Point, more than double the current wholesale 30 price.
　　对于投资者来说，风险和回报都很显著。修建核电站意味着要花费数十亿英镑，在核电站投入运营前不会获得回报。但是，如果项目成功投入运营，企业将得到由政府担保的长期丰厚回报。英国同意为欣克利角核电站生产的每单位电力向法国电力支付92.50英镑，比目前的批发价高一倍多。
　　“Infrastructure provides long-term, low-risk, high-yield return — providing it gets built,” says Cornwall Energy’s Mr Atherton.
　　“一旦建成，基础设施项目将提供长期、低风险、高收益的回报，”Cornwall Energy的阿瑟顿表示。
　　Import drivers
　　促进进口
　　For many of those instrumental in shaping Britain’s attitude to outside investment, this is all a sign of a healthy approach to building infrastructure.
　　很多影响着英国对外投资态度的人士认为，上述事态都表明英国建设基础设施的方式是健康的。
　　Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, has warned about the security implications of letting Chinese groups help develop Hinkley Point. But he defends the wider strategy behind the nuclear programme: “I doubt you could get real value for money by limiting the number of companies or countries you allow to be involved in projects like this. That has never been the British approach.”
　　前外交大臣马尔科姆?里夫金德爵士(Sir Malcolm Rifkind)曾就让中国企业帮助修建欣克利角核电站带来的安全影响发出过警告。但是他支持该核电站项目所遵从的整体战略：“我怀疑，限制允许参与这类项目的企业或国家的数量，可能会让你无法用最少的钱办最多的事。英国人从来都不这么做事。”
　　For others, it is a sign of a more general failure that has exacerbated 31 the country’s long-term industrial decline.
　　其他人认为，上述事态标志着一种整体的失败，这种失败加剧了英国长期的工业衰退。
　　“We are now using four different technologies from five different manufacturers simultaneously,” says Mr Atherton. “By doing that you minimise the opportunities for the UK supply chain. The builders will have to reduce the risk by importing lock stock and barrel from their home countries.”
　　“我们现在同时使用着来自5家不同制造商的4种不同的技术，”阿瑟顿称，“这种做法极大地减少了这些项目带给英国供应链的机会。不同国家的建设方不得不完全从本国进口材料以降低风险。“
　　In north Anglesey, locals are preparing for part of their island to be changed unrecognisably. Many worked on the construction of the original plant in the 1960s, and are hoping the reactors will provide a similar burst of employment and investment.
　　在安格尔西北部，当地人正准备迎接这一前景：他们所生活的这个岛，有一部分区域要变得面目全非了。很多人在上世纪60年代曾参与原来那座核电站的建设，现在他们希望这些核反应堆能再次带来就业和投资热潮。
　　Geraint Jones used to teach at Coleg Menai, a local college which is helping 32 train nuclear engineers and is backed by Hitachi. “My son works at the old Wylfa plant. The new one is essential. I just hope he can find a new job there.”
　　杰兰特?琼斯(Geraint Jones)曾经在当地大学Coleg Menai教书，该学校得到日立的资金支持，帮助培训核工程师。“我儿子在老的威尔法核电站工作。新核电站非常重要。我只希望他能在那里找到新工作。”